The Hunter × Hunter Alphabet (ハンター文字,[1] Hantā Moji—lit. "Hunter Characters") is a simple substitution cipher for Japanese.
About[]
The World of Hunter × Hunter alphabet comprises runic-looking symbols. In reality, these symbols are simple substitutions for Japanese kana, the collective term for hiragana and katakana; two of the three written systems in Japan.
In other words, a specific character in the Hunter × Hunter alphabet corresponds to a specific kana in Japanese. This, in extension, means that all the signs and written media seen throughout the world of Hunter × Hunter are real Japanese words and sentences, and can thus be rendered readable in all cases, provided that one knows the cipher and understand Japanese kana.
Trivia[]
- The symbol similar to the uppercase letter U in the normal position is absent from the charts that compile the Hunter × Hunter Alphabet. Still, it appeared, in Chapter 187, integrating a word on the cover of one of the three books that Kite turn into Wong[2] (from the zoological agency of the Kakin Empire government). The word is decrypted as ほ(?)こくしよ/ho(?)kokushiyo, probably standing for
報 告 しよ (Hōkoku shiyo) translated as "to report". In Roman transliteration, the long vowel [o] is usually indicated by "ō", "oo", or "ou". Hence, the Hunter × Hunter Alphabet character that makes more sense to be used is the one that looks like an inverted uppercase letter U (similar to: Ո) (already deciphered as う/u). Yoshihiro Togashi may have drawn the fictional cipher inverted by accident.